Eee Keyboard

If you are one of the folks that has been waiting (and waiting) for the Asus Eee Keyboard to finally ship, your wait is over. We reported last month that the Eee Keyboard was up for pre-order on Amazon.com for $599. The device is now officially shipping and can be ordered via the link above.

Only yesterday were we gaping in slack-jawed amazement at the sight of an Amazon preorder page for the ASUS Eee Keyboard, and then today an unboxing video of one of the first review units - complete with final packaging, we're told - shows up. Netbooknews are the lucky recipients, and they waste no time in whipping out the innovative nettop.

Ah, the ASUS Eee Keyboard; so long delayed it's almost become a techies' urban myth, the day of nettop reckoning looks almost upon us. A listing for the Eee Keyboard - which packs a netbook's components into a QWERTY keyboard form-factor, complete with a touchscreen display where the numeric keypad would be - has shown up on Amazon, accepting preorders for $599.

Ah, the ASUS Eee Keyboard. Delayed so long there was a fair chance humans might have evolved not to have fingers by the time it hits the shelves, we're still unable to actually go out and buy the nettop-in-a-keyboard-with-a-touchscreen but at least we can look at ASUS' latest promo for the device.

You get the feeling that the ASUS Eee Keyboard has become something of a millstone around the company's neck, a constant reminder of CES 2009 and promises they haven't, so far, been able to keep. We've heard more promised release dates than we've had tepid dinners, but at CeBIT 2010 ASUS chairman Jonney Shih has given us another one: he reckons the Eee Keyboard will ship in April 2010.

ASUS' Eee Keyboard has been so long coming, we've reached another CES before it has arrived on the market. First announced back at CES 2009, the last we heard about the touchscreen-nettop-in-a-keyboard was some nebulous statement from ASUS UK the underlying message of which was that they didn't have a clue when it would go on sale. Happily things have firmed up since then, and ASUS are now apparently claiming that the Eee Keyboard will drop in February 2010.

The ASUS Eee Keyboard saga continues, and we're beginning to think it's the company's version of vaporware. At their latest launch event in London, UK, this week, the Eee Keyboard - which squeezes a nettop and touchscreen into a keyboard form-factor, and was first debuted at CES back in January - was conspicuous by its absence, with ASUS telling Electricpig that the device was still mired in testing; however, ASUS have also been demonstrating their latest version of the Eee Keyboard to NetbookNews, with nary a mention of release delays.

We've been waiting for the ASUS Eee Keyboard for a very long time, at least that's how it feels, so it's good to see some movement happening over at the FCC. They've just published the Eee Keyboard's user manual, together with a whole batch of external, internal and wireless-testing photos. Among the details there's a fair few shots of the media-centric nettop/keyboard hybid's UWB (ultrawideband) system.

ASUS have revealed a few more details about their upcoming ebook reader, the tentatively-named Eee Reader. Potentially landing in late 2009 "at the earliest", the Eee Reader will - say industry sources, in usual DigiTimes style - come in two versions with either a 6- or 9-inch monochrome touchscreen.

Back at CES in January, I was roaming around the Asus booth and one of the PR schleps pulled me into a room in the back to show me the Eee keyboard. My first thoughts were yeah its cool, but what's the point of the thing really. Asus has finally confirmed when the Eee Keyboard will ship and it now has one bit of tech crammed inside that may just make it useful after all.